The assumptions, masquerading as experience, made about the dedication of women to their legal careers after having children as expressed by RA Jameson (see [2006] Gazette, 16 March, 16) are precisely the reasons that women lawyers are paid less than men.


I am shortly to take maternity leave to have my first child but fully expect to return to work as committed to my job as I am now. I will be just as interested in the bonus schemes and seeking promotion. I don't intend to come to work just to avoid wasting my qualifications and to keep my brain active. I will not, however, be prepared to put my work above everything else in my life, or work until 10pm on a regular basis - but then, I don't now.


The issue here is not whether women are less committed to work when they have children, which is a nonsense generalisation, but whether it is right for any firm to promote or permit a culture where excessive hours working and an undue emphasis on billable hours before all else in life is expected in order to succeed. It is inevitable that staff with families, especially women, will suffer when this poor work/life balance is the norm.


Kate Robbins, Roythorne & Co., Nottingham